Newsmaker of the week, the people of Oyster Bay

And they either really don’t want Taubman Centers to build a mall on the Cerro Wire property in Syosset, or they felt $32.5 million for some underutilized land next door was too good a deal for the cash-strapped town to pass up.

The land, 54 acres being used by the town’s Public Works Department, is being sold to Oyster Bay Realty, a company led by mall developer Simon Property Group, which has financed multiple attempts to thwart Taubman’s Syosset plans.

Town of Oyster Bay Supervisor John Venditto had no problem taking the deal: “My focus is selling the land for the right price to help our taxpayers. We got $32.5 million after budgeting $17 million. We’re good to go.”

While Taubman says it could have used the Public Works land to expand the mall’s footprint and create a bigger buffer to the surrounding neighborhood, the developer still has plans to build its mall. It is also fighting the Oyster Bay Realty deal in court.

So it should. The deal is bad for the mall. Bad for jobs. Bad for competition. Bad for business. Bad for the town.

Taubman first proposed the upscale mall in 1994 and has spent $165 million just trying to get it built. Its latest proposal promises to create 5,500 new jobs and generate $50 million annually in new tax revenue for the town, county and Syosset School District.

It was even willing to pay more than Simon Property’s pricetag for the 54 acres, with the caveat that Oyster Bay approve the mall already.